The invention concerns a cam follower configured as a rocker arm or a finger lever for a valve train of an internal combustion engine, said cam follower presenting the following features:
a) the cam follower is comprised of two longitudinally extending side walls which are connected by a crossbar and enclose an intermediate space; PA1 b) the side walls possess two aligned receptions for lodging a shaft about which the cam follower is pivotable; PA1 c) the shaft is adapted to be connected or is connected to at least one support extending vertically of a longitudinal extent of the shaft, by which support the shaft can be positioned or is positioned on a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, each of the shaft and the support comprising a bore extending therethrough; and PA1 d) a screw means by which the cam follower can be fixed or is fixed on the cylinder head can be inserted or is inserted through the bore of the shaft and the bore of the support. PA1 a thin-walled ring is fixed in the bore of the shaft, or simultaneously in the bore of the shaft and the bore of the support, to extend across a parting plane between the shaft and the support, and PA1 said ring comprises, preferably in the region of an edge thereof remote from the cylinder head, a radially inwards directed collar having a bore or an internal thread, which bore or internal thread is mated to a thread of the screw means.
A cam follower of the pre-cited type known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,891 likewise comprises a screw means which is inserted through bores of the shaft of the cam follower and of the support and is screwed into a cylinder head. This fixes the entire cam follower in place on the cylinder head.
A drawback of the aforesaid cam follower is that it cannot be delivered in a fully pre-assembled state because it is possible for the screw means to fall out of the bore of the shaft during transportation and handling until the final fixing of the cam follower on the cylinder head. If, in addition, the cam follower is required to be delivered together with the support, a person skilled in the art finds no suggestion in the cited document as to how the support and the other components of the cam follower can be retained together until final mounting. Thus, work and time involved in the mounting of the prior art cam follower are unnecessarily increased, and this results in a disadvantageous increase of the total costs.